the fact is, it's harder in the united states to lift yourself from poverty now than it was 50 years ago. yet, in the midst of a presidential campaign where the economy is the central issue, we rarely hear poverty mentioned by either candidate. according to a new report by fairness and accuracy reporting, less than 1% of the campaign coverage addressed poverty in any way. that is, at least, directly. consider this, this week's teacher strike in chicago, more than 25,000 chicago teachers went on trike over a mere yad of issues, not the least of which are the teaching conditions in chicago schools. the strike exposed the battle lines between the movement and educators fighting against high stakes testing and a better approach to measuring school performance. driving the battle is educational outcomes to improve economic things for kids. it is always education, which is first and often only mentioned as the cure. that prescription sounds intuitive. what if the premise is wrong? what is robert rector is wrong and it does affect childhood. the average low income child enters kindergarten